I was really interested to find out more about their lives as full-time jazz musicians and how they are finding things post-Covid…

1. Why did you choose to become a jazz musician and how many years has this been your chosen path? 

Alcyona - I decided when I was 15 that I wanted to be a jazz pianist for some inexplicable reason and I’ve never changed my mind. So about 25 years. 

Tori - I started playing gigs when I was 7 in folk clubs and working men’s clubs, but my first professional gigs playing jazz were around the age of 17 with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. I always improvised and listened to jazz but was going to study English at University. It was only because I started to get more regular work as a musician at the age of 18 that I turned down my place at Hull University and went to Leeds Conservatoire on the jazz course instead. 

2. What do you love about your work and how does it positively contribute to your own life as well as the life of others? 

Tori - I love creating music and working on improvisation - It feels necessary for me as I almost find it a form of therapy getting into that brain space. I love to communicate with audiences through the compositions and improvisation and hard work I’ve done on my instrument. I hope it positively contributes to their lives when they come out and see the level of musical interaction within a band and hear the creativity and what is behind that process. 

Alcyona - I love working as a team and always having the challenge of making the music work with whoever I’m with. I love travelling as a musician and meeting and working with people from all over the world. I feel so lucky to be able to do this, and I hope other musicians feel the same. 

3. How are you finding work opportunities at present and do you feel post-Covid that things are back to normal, better or worse? Why? 

Tori - I feel there is work but the format in which I do the work has changed. There used to be blocks of work/tours with different projects but now bandleaders are taking one-off gigs as it’s often the only opportunity they may get to have their project heard. This is because many venues say they are stretched financially since Covid and still catching up on the projects they missed and the funding that musicians can apply for seems to be tighter. I play in the Nikki Iles Jazz Orchestra for instance, and she couldn’t get funding for her recent tour and had to postpone the gigs until next year. This is a phenomenal musician and role model who is renowned all over Europe bringing her music to all the top European jazz orchestras and yet can’t tour with her own big band here in the UK. This has made the work more stressful as I find I’m constantly working and travelling a lot more for one-off projects rather than blocks of work. The fees are not higher (lower if anything) but the cost of living and fuel has gone up. At the same time, I don’t want to complain as I feel incredibly honoured to be involved in the projects I have the opportunity to play in and somehow everyone keeps creating great music. The output of many musicians in the UK jazz scene is awe inspiring and I love being part of this community for that. 

Alcyona - I don’t think things are back to normal because of the state of the world at present. However, I have been lucky enough to be busy all of 2022 and most of this year so can’t really complain. One thing that has changed for me in a major way is that I have had a lot less work abroad than I did prior to Covid. 

4. What’s the biggest stress factor currently in your work? 

Tori - Trying to keep on top of all the different projects. Self-releasing music is a lot of hard work and a little stressful, but also empowering so a mixed blessing.

Alcyona - Probably worrying about how much work is around the corner. It’s always been like this although I’m much more philosophical these days and try not to look too far ahead and start panicking.

5. Would you say working in the jazz industry encourages your confidence and self-belief or challenges it and why? 

Tori - Both. I love playing and it helps me get to a place where I don’t have to worry about confidence/self-belief as I feel playing music helps to reach a level of creativity that helps my identity. However, sometimes the challenges are hard. For example, being on the road and finding the time to retain the high standard of performance and rising to the challenge of learning the music and playing it to the extremely high standards expected with some of the finest musicians in the UK can feel pressurised and challenge your sense of confidence/self-belief. At the same time, it’s a pressure I love and always treat as an honour and try to make the most of every experience and learn from my peers who I find incredibly inspiring. 

Alcyona - Both. It can be absolutely brilliant and make you feel amazing, but it can also tear you down when you least expect it. Why? Who knows. it’s just part of the whole thing. If you don’t have anything to challenge you then maybe you run out of things to strive for? 

6. How important do you think it is for musicians to support each other and why? 

Tori - Very important and that’s one of the things I love about the London jazz scene. I feel very lucky to be involved in a community of like-minded people. I often see it as a family. I’m very lucky that most of the musicians I work with are open and sharing about their music and very supportive. I also feel extremely lucky to know and have worked with some of the generation who are now in their 70s and 80s who are very generous in passing on their expertise and knowledge through both their inspirational playing and their mentoring. We’re very lucky in the UK that we have musicians such as Stan Sulzmann, Norma Winstone, Henry Lowther, Pete Hurt and many others performing, writing and arranging and still pushing the boundaries. 

Alcyona – Yes, it’s important for sure, as we’re the ones that understand each other best and understand more specifically what problems other musicians might be encountering that are related to survival as a musician species. 

7. Tell me one change you’d like to see to make the music industry a better place. 

Tori - I really wish venues, promoters and festivals had more awareness about the reverence they should be giving some of the musicians who have helped create such a great jazz scene and British Jazz sound. It’s great there’s so much young blood coming through of course, but it seems that jazz programming at venues and festivals often overlooks the incredibly inspiring jazz musicians who have forged their own unique voices and have inspired generations. Without them some of the younger generation who are still forming their own voices wouldn’t have much to say. 

Alcyona - More funding for The Arts generally. 

8. Would you ever make the decision to pursue an alternative career in life? 

Tori - I can be very definite about this answer as I had this option presented to me as a necessity at a few points in my life (I had a problem with my hands about 10 years ago and couldn’t play for 3 months and also when the lockdown hit). I have an English teaching qualification (I speak Spanish and lived there for a while) and I find something satisfies my brain in studying and speaking other languages and my native language. I suppose when improvising and working on that process it’s a form of language so perhaps that’s why. It’s a field I’d be happy to go into. However, when I did use my teaching qualification during those periods, I felt the decision wasn’t mine. Both incidents made me realise I shouldn’t question whether I’m happy in my career as at both points, I felt I’d lost my identity. 

Alcyona - I don’t think so now.

9. Do you feel respected as a musician? 

Tori - Yes and no. I feel incredibly lucky that my fellow musicians and peers seem to respect me and this is such an honour. I mentioned how inspiring I find the UK jazz scene as it’s full of musicians with unique voices performing at an incredibly high level. However, this is within the jazz community. In terms of how society respects me as a musician I sometimes feel differently. The way the government opened up other forms of entertainment before venues and theatres as we came out of lockdown for instance, and the constant funding cuts to the arts. Brexit has also made the possibilities of touring for UK musicians harder. These all don’t help to feel that the role of a musician is respected in society. 

Alcyona - Mostly yes. 

10.What does a brighter tomorrow look like for you? 

Alcyona - Greater funding opportunities for The Arts. Ease of travel and work visas for musicians. Music should be more borderless.

Tori - Redressing these issues – more funding for venues and for individuals in the arts. Making touring and travelling abroad as a musician easier as it was before Brexit. 

Tori and Alcyona are releasing their new duo album Make One Little Room an Everywhere in September 2023 with some single releases in the run up. The first single from the album was released on 19th May, a cover of Joni Mitchell’s beautiful Both Sides Now.

Listen to Both Sides Now here:

You can find out more on socials by searching/following the hashtag #brightertomorrowforthearts

Next up in PART TWO of this four-part series is award-winning Mexican drummer Migdalia van der Hoven and London-based jazz pianist and composer Terence Collie. In the meantime, please continue to share your own music projects, new music, video links, gig listings, photographs, news etc on socials using the hashtag #brightertomorrowforthearts and let’s continue to celebrate and pay tribute to all who are contributing to our brighter tomorrow for The Arts.

To find out more about Alcyona Mick visit her website here:

To find out more about Tori Freestone visit her website here:

Cover Photos – Rob Blackham and Peter Fay